Conventionally, a large number of article conveying devices are known such as a linear feeder that makes use of vibrations, and it is disclosed an article conveying device such as that according to Patent Literature 1, which develops such a technology.
Such a device is configured to generate elliptical vibrations by imparting vibrations having the same frequency in the vertical and horizontal directions to a movable body that has a trajectory for conveying articles, and to enable alteration of the conveyance directions by setting the phase difference of the vibrations in each direction in accordance with the coefficient of friction. By using such a device, two articles having different coefficients of friction can be simultaneously loaded on a conveyance surface, and by imparting vibrations having a predetermined phase difference in accordance with the coefficient of friction, the articles can be sorted by conveying each in the opposite direction.
Furthermore, Patent Literature 2 discloses a component feeding device that transfers components in a straight line, and has a configuration in which an intermediate bench (piezoelectric drive unit) is elastically supported relative to a base unit (substrate) by a pair of plate springs, and a movable body (vibration transmitting unit), which has a conveyance path on an upper surface, and a counter weight are joined together and provided so as to sandwich the intermediate bench while being elastically supported by the intermediate bench. Thus, even when vibrations are generated by imparting a driving force to the movable body from the intermediate bench side, stable conveyance can be performed without any tilting and swinging of the movable body.